Churches of Tasmania

Hobart’s first Catholic church, St Virgil’s, was situated near St Patrick’s Street, in the vicinity of St Virgil’s Junior School campus. Known as St Virgil’s Chapel, this rudimentary place of worship dates back to 1823. The chapel was built soon the arrival of Father Philip Conolly in April 1821, who was the first permanent Catholic priest appointed to Van Diemen’s Land. Shortly after Conolly’s arrival, the first official Mass held in Hobart took place in a store on Argyle Street which belonged to prominent Catholic businessman, Edward Curr. In June 1822 Curr became treasurer of a fund to build a church and a dwelling for Father Conolly. The property known as Killard (Gaelic for ‘church on the hill) stood on 14 acres of land, above Harrington Street, allotted by Governor Sorell for use by Catholics. The date of the chapel’s completion and opening is not recorded although it was certainly in operation by mid 1823 as by this time there are references to it in advertisements in the Hoba...

On 25 April 1820, the Wesleyan Missionary, Benjamin Carvosso arrived at Hobart on route to Sydney from London. Carvosso preached the first Methodist sermon in Van Dieman’s Land on 28 April 1820 from the steps of the Hobart Town Court House. Carvosso’s wife Deborah, stood alongside him and led the singing of the first Methodist hymn in the colony. After his visit, a second missionary, Ralph Mansfield, spent a fortnight in Hobart, preaching almost every day before sailing for Sydney on 8 September 1820. On 29 October 1820, a meeting to form a Methodist Society was sponsored by two laymen, Benjamin Nokes and George Waddy. The beginning of regular Methodist services is dated from this occasion. On 12 February 1821 the first meeting in the Argyle Street chapel was held. This building was a rented carpenter’s shop owned by Charles Donn. The chapel was situated on land bounded on the north-east by Argyle Street and on the south-east by the Hobart Rivulet. The site, now occupied by the A...

Sorell is one of Tasmania's oldest towns with the Pittwater district being settled in 1808. Sorell was formally established as a township in 1821 and was thereafter named after William Sorell, who served as Lieutenant-Governor from 1816 to 1824. In 1820 church services at Pittwater were held in a barn. After a school was built in 1821, a schoolroom was used as a place of worship. Reverend Robert Knopwood conducted the first divine service at the Sorell school in February1822. The story of the establishment of St George’s at Sorell is recounted in an article published by the Hobart Mercury in August 1925, on the occasion of the church’s centenary: “In consequence of the progress of the Pittwater settlement it was deemed advisable to secure a piece of land for a cemetery, and on March 7, 1823, the Rev. Samuel Marsden paid a visit for that purpose, under instructions from the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, and consecrated a suitable area. Previous to this all persons dying in the di...

New Norfolk is a large town on the banks of the Derwent River approximately 40 kilometres west of Hobart. It is a historic town with its origins dating back to 1806. It grew dramatically when settlers from Norfolk Island moved into the district after 1807. When Governor Lachlan Macquarie visited the township he named it Elizabeth Town after his wife. However, it was later decided to adopt the name New Norfolk, to acknowledge the settlers and assist them in developing a sense of belonging. The beautiful church of St. Matthew’s is a very different building from the church erected in 1825. All that is left of the original church are the walls and flagged floor of the nave, and possibly the western walls of what are now the transepts. The history of the church is dominated by renovation and rebuilding which was largely the result of poor workmanship and inadequate planning. St Matthew’s lays claim to being the oldest surviving Anglican Church in Tasmania. It was preceded by a brick school...

The Cameron Street Wesleyan Chapel, which opened in 1827, has the distinction of being the second church to be built at Launceston following the establishment of St John’s Anglican church in 1825. It only had a short existence as a chapel and it was prematurely closed in 1828. It was demolished in 1898 to make way for the new Holy Trinity Church. At the time of its demolition, the Examiner published a “sketch” on the building’s Wesleyan origins and subsequent history: “The Wesleyans visited Launceston for the first time in 1822, but were very unfavourably impressed with the place, for the Rev. W. Horton, writing to Sydney for help, remarked, “The wickedness of the people of Launceston exceeds all description.” They did not remain then, but returned in 1826, and built a small chapel and parsonage … and the Rev. J. Hutchinson was placed in charge. In 1828, however, or two years after, the Wesleyan Mission Society withdrew its aid, and the minister was withdrawn; the buildings were then...

St John’s is one of five churches facing onto Princes Square. It is also the second oldest existing church in Tasmania. A report from The Examiner, on the occasion of its centenary, reveals that the idea of separation of church and state was clearly a very different concept in the early 19th century. “… On January 28, 1825, the foundation stone was laid by Sir George Arthur, then Lieutenant-Governor. The original design was for a building the facsimile of old St. David's, Hobart, but his Excellency, thinking the building too large for the requirements of the northern town, drew his pen across the place, reducing the building to about one-half the original size, with the remark, 'That will be quite large enough for Launceston.' ...” The consequence was a church that ended up too small for a rapidly growing town and the ramifications of this were to be felt for the next century: “…This was a fatal mistake, as was only too apparent a few years later. St. John's, like all c...